for tenants 2018 was why not now I asked
myself the exact same question but this
time not why not now what it didn’t
begin my assignment on time instead I
asked myself something that I now asked
you why not now why not begin your
rebellion now have you ever had to
rebelled in order to defend someone or
something that you believe in because I
know that I have rebelled the word of
both power and inferiority at the same
time and rebelled what a word to say we
bail what a word to hear but we bail
what a thing to do they were born
rebellions death the day you succeed
your valiant failure but the moment that
you realize that you need to rebound you
rebelled against the world
well my first rebellion began at the age
of 10 years old
and yes as I said before we Bell is the
word of both power and inferiority at
the same time whatever bells because
they can or whatever bells because they
don’t have a choice
in my case I had the choice but I had
the final choice and my mother my sister
and I rebelled against an abusive father
rebelled against the Panamanian judicial
system and rebelled against the concept
of justice that I thought I knew at time
so sit up and get prepared to join my
memories and repressed emotions of a day
that changed my life forever it made me
understand the harsh and crude realities
of the hidden cultural
structural violence in Panama in Central
America and around the world that
prevents victims of domestic violence or
any type of violence from speaking up
and defending the rights and let me
teach you about the system that I have
gone through a system in which the
aggressor becomes the victim and the
victim can’t be heard nor speak up
through living in Ecuador in Panama in
Canada there’s one phrase that I heard
that is able to describe my rebellion
and the impact it has had on me and that
is how many years do you need to forget
one minute through my life and through
my experience and developed an answer to
it which is a lifetime may 10 in 2010 I
was 10 years old and it was Mother’s Day
ironically Mother’s Day the day that
you’re supposed to celebrate the
creators of the tiny humans and be so
proud to have them in your life it was
this exact same day that I was able to
realize that for Mother’s sake and for
the following Father’s Day I would also
be celebrating my mother but I wish that
I could celebrate my mother every single
day because it’s because of her and a
perfect belly that I was able to want to
rebell she’s the first person in my life
that I ever saw a free belt she rebelled
to defend her rights as a woman and she
rebelled to defend my sister and my
rights as children at the time we
marched along her like soldiers ready to
repel them but now I’m prepared to lead
my little bellies and to inspire you to
do the same I always say that it’s so
funny how life works how sometimes we
remember something if we don’t remember
others there are certain things that I
don’t even know as to why I remember
from May 10th
the pictures of balls on the Spanish
restaurant a white court telephone a
glass of whiskey filled halfway and
something that I feel and attempts
forget was the blue sweater
the turned blood bank at the end of the
night May 10 we were in my grandmother’s
house my mother was in front of me and
my father was sitting next to me and
thus always I was kind of in the middle
of the situation
and from one moment to the next
the voices in the room turned into
sounds in the anger of my father turned
into violence from one moment to the
next
my mom’s life was at risk she was being
picked on stopped by my father if you
have ever watched the Hulk or know what
the Hulk is that’s the best way that I
can explain my father’s transformation
this huge monster that was just
unstoppable
he had one target my mother and what do
you do to stop the Hulk while I was in
front of him trying to stop him
my grandparents were in front of him
trying to stop him but how do you stop
someone that’s unstoppable well the
answer to that is that you can rebelled
now I’ve never been a gorilla like
cycles I hate high heels I love wearing
converse or sneakers or even flats but I
will always nice they always be grateful
for my mom’s red stilettos that day
because it wouldn’t be because of those
shoes she probably wouldn’t be here with
me today and I probably wouldn’t be Stan
here speaking to you here’s a great
self-defense tip if you ever
how person attacking you you look at
your shoes because they could always
save you but in all seriousness morning
grateful that Dad day my mom was wearing
those shoes life is so unpredictable I
went from living in Canada to Ecuador to
Canada and into Panama and that it went
to testifying in the foreign court in a
foreign country that I didn’t know that
it didn’t understand and the first time
I rebelled was by testifying but I think
that you should know that in order to be
belt
it was first rebelled against yourself I
had to rebelled against a via of their
being such thing as a perfect family and
I had to rebel against AV out of there
being justice that’s easy and achievable
because unfortunately it’s not when you
go to court in Panama and you’re ten
years old you see people that have been
so hurt before you see woman that have
been constantly beaten and they’re
bleeding sitting in the chair waiting to
testify nobody does anything and nobody
says anything because it’s so normal and
I saw teenagers that were ready to speak
up to share their story to defend their
rights and little did I know how
unpredictable life is and seventeen
years later than the current age of
seventeen I still have to go to court I
still have to testify and try to have my
voice heard my story hurt to chief
justice but maybe I will never achieve
this justice but I still rebelled as I
said before the first time that I
rebelled again I gave my testimony in
court it was in the domestic violence
case it was in the alimony case in the
custody
okay that I spoke up and I rebalance by
breaking the family time then reality
was induced if when you rebelled you sit
down and it’s not unlike the common
believe of a rebellion that’s aggressive
in violence it’s not like that my
rebellion was a peaceful development sat
in a chair with a woman asking me if I
said nothing but the truth and that’s
what I did
I said nothing but the truth but
sometimes the truth is not enough
sometimes my father would corrupt the
system and the system would eat him to
become corrupt man and it would work but
this also made me realize that I was
rebelling that I was going against the
corrupt system in doing something I was
able to understand that the Panamanian
judicial system and probably every
system in the world is corrupt in the
sense that it allows individuals like my
father to benefit from the opportunities
that injustice brings but aside from
that my rebellion made me become the
person that I am today
easy as that sounds it is true my
rebellion made me do things I never
thought I could do
I talked to power and authority I told
the judge that things had to change the
corruption couldn’t continue and that
the laws were limited men trying to
speak up after they have been victims is
not fair and trust me saying that to the
person who can decide if you’re going to
leave with Hulk it takes guts but so
just leading a rebellion that’s what I
want to do I want to inspire all of you
to lead rebellions because when you’re
in court I saw so many people that were
going through difference
same situations that I was they were all
there to testify to be heard and they’re
there to fight their battles but
unfortunately most of the time because
of the way the system works their
balance fight them nonetheless we have
to fight back and we have to repel and
there’s one thing that I learned
throughout all my process is that yes
there is injustice plenty of it and
maybe when I die maybe when I graduate
but I’m 18 March 30th finally I’m legal
I can travel by myself but maybe even
then injustice will never happen
it may be my case the court will never
say them justice happened and my father
still leaves of three likes they’re not
Alessa
that there is injustice and there is
pain but there’s also hope and no
feelings and really trust me on this
because I have experienced this then no
feeling in the whole entire world
compares to that of participating or of
winning or just being part of the
rebellion that you started and all of
you miss room to leave rebellions and
count and can help people all around the
world to fight their battles because
that’s what we do we fight we have to
survive on the face and that’s how we
survive by fighting and we can do it
together to begin our own rebellions thank you